The Struggles of Students
by Kri - Ative
Summary: College AU. A collection of one-shots recalling struggles that happen to the students at Kanto University. T for language and situations.


The Stench.

"The worst part was "The Stench". Misty didn't know what it was about her roommate, but the smell that seemed to linger on her and her possessions was vomit-inducing." A tale in which Misty finds it difficult to confront her roommate about a cleanliness issue.

* * *

"So I have this problem," Misty began. The two other boys at the lunch table groaned.

"Oh really," Ash sarcastically replied. The red head was known for over exaggerating her problems, so he was only mildly interested in hearing about issues in her life.

She huffed. "Actually, yes. I've noticed that my roommate smells."

Gary rolled his eyes. "What do you mean she smells?"

"Like, she _smells_ bad," Misty added, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"That's weird," Ash commented. "Does she not shower or something?"

Misty's eyes widened with horror at her friends question. She put her sandwich down, as she finished her bite to begin complaining once again.

"Oh my god, I don't know when the last time she showered was."

"Well there you go," Gary added. He took a french fry from his plate and before beginning again. "Bitch just needs to shower. Tell her to go shower."

Misty gave an argumentative glance to the brunet across the table. "You just can't tell a person that they stink! Are you dumb?!"

"Why can't you?" Ash asked. He didn't understand why Misty couldn't confront her roommate. It seemed like an easy enough solution to her problem.

"You guys clearly don't get it. May might feel like really self-conscious about being smelly. And there's just no way I can say it without sounding like an insensitive bitch about it."

"Then don't complain. No one else cares," Gary said, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

Misty began to get annoyed. "Like this is an actual problem though. I don't think you understand."

It was Ash's turn to speak up. "You know I love you Misty, right?"

She nodded in response, taking a sip of her water.

"Well…" Ash began, thinking over his words with caution, "you do have the tendency to be pretty dramatic about things. Like –"

"Oh boy the kid who cries at everything is telling me I'm over dramatic," she interrupted. "I know that I over exaggerate things, but I'm serious on this one. The smell is awful."

"Look. If it's so bad but you don't want to talk to her about it, then don't take it out on us," Gary said. He grabbed his glass and got up to go refill it, removing himself from the conversation.

"I hate to admit Gary is right, but he is," Ash said, taking a bite out of his hamburger to keep himself from rambling on. Ash knew he didn't have the best filter when it came to a conversation like this, and thought Gary summed it up as best as possible.

_This is it, _Misty tried to convince herself. _I'm gonna just tell her that she needs to pick up and that she has an odor issue. You can do this! No more living in absolute garbage!_

On the lengthy walk back to her dorm, Misty had been thinking of every possible way to bring up the discussion with her roommate. It was going to be an awkward and unpleasant talk, but it needed to happen. Every step she took back toward her room was another step closer to the confrontation that was about to occur. The red-head was absolutely dreading it.

As she opened the door to her room, she took in the hideous sight. While her side of the room was in pristine condition, it was evident that there was a physical divide in the room, marking where her roommate's began.

The left half that belonged to May was worse than a dump. Her tiny waste bin underneath her desk was overflowing with garbage that had never been emptied. There were pizza boxes on top of the desk that had been left there for _at least_ six weeks (Misty had counted) and had yet to be removed. Whatever areas the pizza boxes didn't cover were littered with old drinks from weeks ago. Her unkempt bed had wrappers from the various snacks she consumed and underneath it contained what Misty called "The Abyss". It appeared to be where most of her roommate's possessions seemed to go, including but not limited, such as clothes, homework, electrical chords, and shoes in one massive pile.

The worst part was "The Stench". Misty didn't know what it was about her roommate, but the smell that seemed to linger on her and her possessions was vomit-inducing. It was a smell that couldn't be associated to anything. Misty had tried to pin point it, but it wasn't possible. One day it could have a strong Dugrito's and Goldeens smell, while other days it could smell entirely of bad B.O. It was it's own disturbing scent that filled the room and on occasion, the hallways. In fact, Misty was not the only one to notice this.

One time she had brought Ash back to her dorm and as the two of them entered the room they were stopped by one of her floor-mates, Drew. As they began to make casual small talk, Misty began to open the door. It was then that Drew paused and uttered a, "Holy Shit".

"_What?" Ash had asked him. _

"_Well," Drew began. "Last night Trip down the hall threw up like right outside your door." _

_Misty deadpanned at the news. "That's fantastic." _

"_Yeah. It got cleaned though, so don't worry. But anyway, there was like this smell lingering around and we thought it was just the throw-up from last night. The smell though – it's from your room! No wonder why the smell is still around!" _

Misty was horrified. Her room smelled worse than someone's up-chuck, and it was all because of her damn dirty roommate. Other people had begun to notice, and she was so embarrassed.

She had tried many times before to combat this prominent problem. Her first solution was air fresheners. Misty thought that it could overpower the smell and bring balance back to the room. However, The Stench that May brought into the room with her easily overpowered the small fragrance.

In retaliation, she taped the air freshener to her small fan in order to get it to spread throughout the room with ease. But this was _still_ not enough to shadow the Stench. In place, she bought spray bottles of air freshener. She thought that by spraying it all over her roommates stuff, that it would remove the odor. However, that was only a quick fix and wasn't an effective long term solution.

And so with all of her failed solutions, she was at wits end. She was fed up with the obnoxious scent, and was determined to eradicate the room of it. As she turned the doorknob to let herself in, she mentally prepared herself to talk about it.

"Hey, May," Misty entered, not looking at her roommate. This was going to be hard.

"Hi, Misty! Oh my Arceus, guess what."

Misty looked up at her roommate to give her attention.

"So I was talking with my parents over the phone earlier. I'm getting like a seasonal job at the little paper store off campus for the holiday season and I told them about it, and then after a little of convincing I got them to agree to let me bring my car to campus! So now if we need to go somewhere it's going to be so much easier!" May happily explained.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Misty said. She genuinely meant it too. Trying to get off campus for any reason was the world's biggest pain in the ass. Although as expensive as it could be, having a car was one of the best things that could ever happen to someone with inefficient transportation.

"I know! I'm so excited!" May squealed. "So anyways, how was your day?"

Misty froze. While this was her opportunity to bring up her roommate conflict, she hesitated. With the new knowledge that the brunette had a car on campus, she had to play out her options.

The red-head knew that this was what many people called "using someone". But the fact that May and Misty weren't the best of friends still remained, and if Misty brought up something as rude as "you smell" to her roommate, that could ruin any chance of getting a ride.

"It was good. I got to see Ash and Gary at lunch."

_I can wait_, she told herself. _It's only a few weeks. I can do this._

"I can't do it anymore. I can't do it," Misty said to Gary as they exited their lecture. "I'm going to lose it, I can't go back to that room."

"You know, this could have been avoided if you just told her."

Misty sighed. She knew he was right.

"It's just so hard, you know? Like I can sound like a total bitch when it comes to these things. I know that if I bring it up I'm just going to flip a shit on her."

"Ah, but are you a bitch if you don't tell someone they smell?"

"I hate you."

"Thanks you're pretty neat-o too."

The two began the trek back to their respective dorms in silence. Neither one of them cared to start up a new topic of discussion; each student was lost in their own thought. At least it was until Gary broke the silence.

"Hey do you have a pokenav charger I can borrow? My chord is all frayed and I'm nervous about using it."

"Uh…" Misty paused to think. "Yeah, actually I have an extra chord you can use. I got it when I got my replacement nav."

Gary gave a smile of gratitude. "Thanks."

"No problem."

After a few more minutes of small talk between the two of them, they had finally arrived back at Misty's dorm. As she opened the door and put her stuff down, she turned around to see Gary horrified.

"I am so sorry… I thought you were being dramatic."

Misty stared at Gary with a puzzled look on her face.

"You weren't kidding when you said your roommate was actually gross. This is horrifying."

"I told you!" Misty yelled. "It's just awful! _And_ _you just can't tell someone they stink._"

"Has she ever even picked up her side of the room?" Gary asked.

"Nope. I've tried. I've told her I wanted to sweep the floor and have kindly asked her to pick up her stuff. She doesn't. I give up. I'm dead," Misty said, looking for the chord.

"I don't think that this is a healthy living condition," Gary added.

"_Its not_. There is food in here from_ months ago. Months_."

"If you don't tell this bitch I'm going to for you."

"Thanks, but it'll get done," Misty told him as she handed him the chord.

"When, Misty?" Gary demanded. He was really irritated with the childish way his friend was acting.

Misty sighed. "You know. I don't know. It's not like I hate her so it's easier to confront it. I feel like if we weren't roommates then we'd be good friends because I think she's cool n' all. She just quite literally stinks to a point of nausea. Plus, she's got her car right now and I don't want to piss her off."

"Well get figure it out. I'm sick of hearing about it and how bad it actually is and knowing that you're living in this pile of shit."

It was an ordinary school night. Misty had been at Ash's dorm. The two had been studying and doing homework. However she had left Ash's room and was dreading to return to her own. She knew May would be there and she didn't want to deal with the problem.

As soon as she walked into her room her petite nose was bombed with The Stench. It was at its all time peak on the smell-o-meter.

So in order to stall for a few more minutes, the freshman grabbed her shower cady and left for the bathroom. She figured she could kill another twenty minutes before having to suffocate once more.

As she returned to her room, she uncharacteristically found a group of people near her door. She didn't talk much to the people on her floor, so she didn't know why they were all bunched up in the halls. But she found that one of her floormates, Iris, held a bottle of air freshener in one hand while another, Serena, was incense burning.

"Hey, what's going on?" Misty asked the group which consisted of Drew and her RA, Cilan, in addition to Iris and Serena.

"You know how your roommate is just like really gross?" Drew began.

"Yeah…" Misty acknowledged, adjusting her towel tighter.

"It's making the hallways smell awful now."

"Misty, is everything okay between you and your roommate?" Cilan asked. "I'm sensing that there's a roommate conflict between you and May."

She cracked. Clad in her towel and in front of people she barely knew, she was having a mental break down.

"Of _course_ there's a roommate conflict! I'm living in absolute filth with a smelly roommate!"

Her RA's face filled with concern. "Do you want to come into my room and talk about it?"

"Yes. Please. I need help with this," Misty accepted graciously.

"But first I need to change," she added, remembering her current state. "I feel kind of uncomfortable talking about this in just a towel."

Once she was dressed, she headed down the hall to her RA's room and poured out all of the frustration she felt. She discussed how this problem had been going on for months. She told him how she tried to get May to pick up the room before and how it had failed. She also mentioned how her roommate just smelled awful and how one person can't tell another "you smell" without it sounding like a personal attack.

Cilan understood, and at the end of their session they agreed to email his boss with how to further handle the situation. He had agreed with Misty in her points and both wanted to solve the situation as soon as possible.

As she left his room, she found Iris and Serena hanging around in the halls. They were sitting on the floor, letting the incense Serena was burning fill the area.

"I am so sorry," Iris said. "I had no idea your roommate was that awful."

"I have no idea how you deal with it. Bless your soul," Serena added.

"My stubbornness to not clean and my ineffective verbal communication skills keep me from dealing with it," Misty said as she entered her room. She slammed the door shut and collapsed her bed. She felt absolutely drained after talking to Cilan.

It was two in the morning. Misty had to be up by seven for her eight A.M class, and couldn't fall asleep. May had the volume on her computer at full blast and was laughing along to whatever she was watching. Misty was trying to let it go. She knew that she should be getting to sleep but the inconsiderate actions of her roommate we're driving her up the wall.

But then it happened.

While watching her show, May had let out the loudest, grossest fart Misty had ever heard.

"Are you kidding me? Are you _freaking_ kidding me?!" Misty shouted, jumping out of bed.

May looked up with a confused look on her face. She had no idea what caused Misty to become angry.

"That's it! I've had it with you!"

Now May was really confused. She had never thought that Misty had an issue with her before and couldn't figure out what she could have done to make her so angry.

"What did I do?"

"_You're gross_! You're so _so_ gross and I can't stand it! That fart just now? I get that people have to fart but that was just plain nasty! And this room? This room is such a fucking disaster that Grumpig don't even want to live here! I have to work twice as hard to keep my half spotless because your half is an actual nightmare!

"And you know what else what? You smell! It's honestly the grossest thing in the world! It follows you everywhere and it grosses me out! Actually, it's not just me because I know it's bothering everyone else in this hall too! You know what they were doing earlier tonight? They were spraying Febreeze in the hallways because _your_ stench in this room is so damn powerful it started spreading to the halls.

"I can't do it anymore! There's no way to put it politely. You smell and you're a gross mess. I mean I think you're a cool person, but your shit and your stench is everywhere and you need to get your act together!"

She grabbed up an empty water bottle that had rolled over to her side of the room, nearly crushing it in her grip.

"_I am so fucking sick of your shit!"_ Misty screamed, whipping the water bottle at her roommate's side of the wall.

After calming down and taking a breath, Misty was instantly horrified with herself. She immediately regretted everything that came out of her mouth in her rant. She knew that she was extremely hot headed, and it tended to get her into a lot of trouble. What was even more awful was that May sat there in the darkness, absolutely silent.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, May finally spoke up.

"I… I didn't realize that you felt that way," she said, sounding as if she was holding back tears.

"I'm sorry I sounded like such a bitch. That was in no way the right way to talk to you. It's just – gross. I should have been a lot more sensitive about what I just said, and I'm sorry that I just exploded. And I also understand that my anger doesn't excuse any of what I said. I'm so sorry..." Misty sincerely meant it too.

After taking in Misty's apology, the brunette finally responded.

"Honestly, I probably would have bitched too. I didn't realize that I was being such a problem."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that it came out as it did. I also should have mentioned it sooner…I'm sorry."

"I accept your apology… but do I really stink that badly?" May asked, finally aware of the discomfort she was causing.

Misty hesitated. "You know, I really wish I could say no but then I'd be lying. If you want though I can help you pick up your room tomorrow. You just have to promise to keep it picked up."

"I can do that," May said.

"I can also lend you some nice perfume and lotions and stuff for the smell thing too. I also highly recommend a shower."

"Noted."

A silence filled the room again, less tense than the previous one.

"So, we're okay?" Misty asked nervously. She would have understood if May was angry with her. She would have been.

"Yeah. We're okay."

True to her word, the next day was spent detoxing the room of its filth with help from Misty. And for the rest of the year, Misty was finally at peace with May in their Stench-free room.

* * *

wow when was the last time I wrote something? I do apologize though I feel like I could have done better but what's done is done. I hope you enjoyed reading my poop writing :')


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